Nobody cared if Dan Choi was a homosexual while he was leading Fort Drum soldiers on patrol in Iraq.

But today in Syracuse, a board of four military officers may decide if the lieutentant should be the first New York National Guard member discharged for violating the military's don't ask-don't tell policy against homosexual conduct.

"I'm an American soldier that happens to be gay. That's the way I was born. It's unfortunate I had to hide that," said Choi, who on Sunday was a celebrity grand marshal in San Francisco's Gay Pride Parade.

In March, Choi outed himself in the Army Times newspaper and on a nationally broadcast MSNBC show to protest the military's policy.

That led to today's hearing at the Thompson Road Armory, which will be closed to the public and the media, said Lt. Col. Paul Fanning, a spokesman for the New York Army National Guard.

Fanning said Choi, 28, is the first officer in the 10,600-member New York National Guard facing discharge because of alleged violations of the don't ask-don't tell policy, which President Bill Clinton put into effect in 1993.

The policy forbids military recruiters from asking someone about his or her sexual preference, but also prohibits a service member from revealing if he or she is gay.

About 10,500 military personnel have been discharged for violating the policy in the 12 years from 1997 through 2008, Defense Department spokeswoman Cynthia Smith said.

While campaigning for president, Barack Obama pledged to work to end the policy. But under Obama's administration more than 250 gay and lesbian service members have been discharged for violating the rule.

Choi has written to Obama to ask him to change the law.

On his resume, Choi seems like the kind of officer that Uncle Sam needs.

While at West Point, the California native majored in Arabic language and environmental engineering, and volunteered as a leader in the Cadet Chapel Choir and the Officers' Christian Fellowship. The 2003 graduate said he can speak and write in Arabic. As an active duty infantry officer, he served in Iraq with the 10th Mountain Division for 15 months, with much of that time spent leading combat patrols through a region called the Triangle of Death. Choi also led civil affairs patrols, whose work included rebuilding Iraq's infrastructure, schools and hospitals.

When he got back to the United States, Choi said he did something else that took extra courage: He went to a gay bar, in New York City, for the first time.

"I was paranoid that someone would be spying on me. I must have walked around the
club seven times," he said.

Inside the bar, he met Matthew Kinsey, and was so nervous he couldn't stop giggling. Choi began driving to Manhattan every weekend to see Kinsey, who became his first boyfriend.

"I would tell my friends I'm in a relationship. I would say I had a girlfriend," Choi recalled. "I would say her name was Martha. That was so disrespectful."

"They would say when are we going to meet Martha?" Choi recalled.

In 2008, he left the Army and joined the I-69 Infantry of the New York National Guard, based in Manhattan.

He began telling his secret to his closest friends, his sister, his parents, soldiers he served with in Iraq, and his West Point classmates.

"I didn't have a problem with don't ask-don't tell 'til I started a relationship and figured out that this is what life is all about," he said.

His homosexuality does not affect his ability to lead soldiers, Choi said. "I've never engaged in homosexual conduct while on duty. Or heterosexual conduct."

Just by publicly stating he is gay, Choi violated Army regulations, however.

In Syracuse, the Federal Recognition Board could decide today whether to recommend the Army no longer recognize Choi as an officer, which, in essence, amounts to a discharge, Fanning said.

The hearing is being held in Syracuse because it is the headquarters of the 27th Brigade Combat Team, which overseas Choi's National Guard unit, Fanning said.

He said Federal Recognition Board hearings are closed because they handle personnel
issues involving officers, not criminal matters.

Fanning said the board will review Choi's published and broadcast statements identifying himself as gay. Choi will also have a chance to address the board.

"The law says what the law says," Fanning said. "The military has no choice but to follow it. We don't pick and chose what regulations to enforce."